For the past 37 years, the image of an Illinois high school softball state championship being won depicts a mob gathering somewhere within the infield dirt. Yells, screams and other loud cheers compliment that typical setting.
Such scenes are what high school softball players, such as those on the Milledgeville Lady Missiles softball team, dream of as soon as the postseason draws near.
However, Milledgeville didn't experience that particular picture at this year's IHSA Class 1A State Finals at East Peoria's EastSide Centre.
They dreamed about it, alright. That was supposed to be the "finish" in their season motto of "Finish The Dream."
Last year the Lady Missiles won its last game of the season, within the confines of EastSide Centre, but it was in the consolation game in a 4-1 victory over Tuscola in which they pounded out 14 hits.
With six of nine spots of last year's starting lineup returning this year, that third place trophy - the first IHSA trophy of any kind in school history - didn't quite mean the end. The dream wasn't finished yet.
Not even the departure of Sarah Spears, the team's head coach during the third-place run, would hinder the chances of accomplishing even more.
Brad Grenoble would step up and take over the reins.
"It started at the end of last year," Grenoble said. "These girls came and hit the cages 3-4 times a week all winter, even the girls that play volleyball and basketball; they're still in the cages three times a week. They knew they were close and had to get some better stuff."
Twenty-six wins and three losses later, the Lady Missiles made their way back to East Peoria for the final act.
The scene wasn't all that bright, as dark clouds hung over EastSide Centre throughout the weekend. With the way they were taking shape during Friday's semifinals, a decision was made to begin Milledgeville's game with Illini Bluffs of Glasford 45 minutes earlier than expected.
The throng of Milledgeville fans that gathered to watch the first semifinal game between Toledo Cumberland and Goreville all flocked to the next diamond over when the announcement was made that the game would be played there.
After warmups, a light drizzle made its way onto the diamond with the scene of more to come on the other side of the right field fence. Not quite the picturesque setting. They were about to play in the rain.
Four went up and three went down for the Lady Missiles in the first at-bat. Then EastSide's lightning detection siren went off to halt everything. At least 30 minutes were needed after the sight of the first bolt, and the delay wound up being 40 minutes long.
Still, the sprinkles continued.
The Tigers struck first after Nicole Russell reached third base on a hit to right field that went to the fence. Two outs later, she was plated by Katie Young's laser single to left field.
But the Missiles would come back in the next at-bat. Consecutive singles by Morgan Adolph and Kayleigh Leddy paved the way for Kelsey Hayen's shot to center field. Adolph scored on the play, but Leddy was gunned down at the plate. The Missiles would still get that go-ahead run though when Liz Bryant's groundout created the scene for Hayen to dart home successfully.
Adolph helped put the Lady Missiles ahead by two with a hard double to center to score Jenna Bibler, who ran after Emily Bush's double earlier in the inning, and Courtney Swalve, who reached on a fielder's choice.
"We got aggressive on the bases," coach Grenoble said. "You have to make things happen in games like this. You don't want to lose by one or two runs, so we just got aggressive, put the ball in play and just kept running the bases. We had a good day."
Illini Bluffs was only able to get back one of the runs in the third inning before the floodgates broke open. Milledgeville's, that is. Not from the rain.
The Lady Missiles tacked on five runs to get into double digits for a 10-2 lead. Breyana Henson and Ally Bush each had RBI doubles, and Emily Bush, Swalve and Adolph each had RBI singles. Just like that, the Lady Missiles were in firm control of the game and allowed just one run for the duration.
Adolph's RBI was her third of the game, and was on her third straight hit of the game.
"We're pretty confident in our lineup one through nine," Adolph said. "We know we can produce runs, and we expect everyone to have hits and contribute to the team. Once we do that, we know we have control of the game and we can do whatever we want. We can pretty much win any game that we want to."
Emily Bush was able to shrug off early issues in the pitcher's circle after the offensive barrage. Five of her eight strikeouts came in the last four innings.
The game was not without a strange moment, however.
In the fourth inning, Henson would score on Ally Bush's double. After getting settled in within the dugout, Henson noticed that an old wound had come back from all her work - which would wind up being the first domino in the pivotal offensive onslaught.
Henson doesn't like blood.
Assistant coach Joe Leddy noticed his fainting player and called from the dugout to the first base umpire for a time out. While coaches, teammates and medical personnel rushed over to see what was happening, confusion didn't seem to reign during it all.
"She saw her own blood."
It made sense to everyone that knew her. But still, procedures had to trump trust in these cases. She had to be taken from the dugout and evaluated, afterwhich she returned to the dugout all smiles.
"I'm not very good with blood and needles. I cut open my knee and looked at it, and then, yeah, I was gone," Henson said.
But she made it.
"It's amazing being able to come here for the second time back-to-back," Henson said. "It's a great experience to be able to go for first or second."
While the semifinal game was played in not-so-pleasant conditions, the Class 1A championship game appeared to be delay-free. The sun was shining during Goreville's consolation win over Illini Bluffs, but when the National Anthem was about to be sung, the small drops made a return.
Not a problem for the Lady Missiles. After all, they were used to playing with a few pelts on them.
Emily Bush allowed one hit in the first inning before the offense came to work.
With one out, Taylor Grenoble reached base when her chopper to third base was misthrown. Then Emily Bush came aboard when her liner to left field was almost caught but not.
After Swalve struck out, Adolph continued her offensive power trip by taking the first pitch she saw from Kaylee Carlen and crushed it deep to the left-center field berm. She equalled the RBI total of her last game on one swing to take an early 3-0 lead.
"We know that when we come out and we have hits in the first inning, we set the tone for the game," Adolph said. "That's how we want to play: we want to come out first and we want to score first. We give oursleves a lot more confidence knowing that we have control of the game when we come out and score first."
However, Cumberland would come back and send five players to the plate before the first out. Olivia Titus's double plated Micah Siebert, who led off with a walk, and Taylor Layton, who singled. Jasie McMechan walked and Carlen was hit by a pitch to load the bases with none out.
Bush got Ashley Greger to strike out swinging before Kyla Thornton hit an offering to left field. Titus and McMechan scored, but the Lady Missiles got an out from it by gunning down Mariah Huddleston - running for Carlen - at third base.
Down 4-3, Hayen was first up in the top of the second. She would single-handedly tie the game up by taking a 3-2 pitch from Carlen over the left field fence. It was Hayen's first home run of the season.
Cumberland threatened once more in their half of the second. With one out, Siebert and Layton singled and Titus walked to load the bases again. However, this would be an much easier jam for Bush to get out of, getting McMechan to ground into a force out at home and getting Carlen to ground out to Adolph at third. Another nailbiter had come and gone.
Milledgeville would get the go-ahead run in the fourth inning. Leddy and Hayen led off with singles before Bryant and Henson struck out. With a 1-2 count, Ally Bush laced a single into the outfied to send Leddy and Hayen around third. Only Leddy would score as Hayen was gunned down at the plate for the final out.
Both teams would threaten to get another run in the fifth inning. Cumberland put two on before Emily Bush got Carlen out swinging for her third punchout of the inning. Her and Grenoble led off their half of the inning with singles. However, Bush's runner, Bibler, was caught stealing second and Grenoble was caught napping on a double play.
By this time, the rain had started to get a little heavier.
To lead off the sixth inning, Paige Oakley was called upon to pinch hit for Greger. She took the opportunity and seized it with a leadoff single to left field.
Then came the high handwave from tournament director Dave Gannaway from behind the backstop. That meant the game was to be halted because of the weather.
It was 2:34 p.m.
Two and a half hours of heavy rain fell on the diamond before the first evaluation could properly take place. The tarp only covered the infield, and the outfield grass and dirt became a concern.
The tarp finally came off of the infield at 6:10 p.m. After that, it was decided that another two hours was needed to get the field back into playing shape. The scheduled restart time was 8:15 p.m.
Not even that would be a reality.
All the Milledgeville players, coaches and fans could do was wait. The Cheeseman Coach charter bus was the Lady Missile headquarters. Five hours were spent on the bus, except for a brief period when the all-clear was thought to hold. From about 3:30 to 4:00, the players made their way back to the dugout, only to be called back after another storm cell came about.
Ultimately, it was decided that whatever the groundscrew was able to do was not going to be done by a 10:00 p.m. recommended deadline, per the IHSA State Softball Terms and Conditions.
At around 7:30, Milledgeville was crowned the Class 1A State Champion.
The celebration took place in a parking lot.
The dream was finished in a parking lot.
Not exactly the visual ending that was dreamt of.
"We never thought it would end like this," coach Grenoble said. "The IHSA tried doing everything they could, but the fields weren't just good enough to play on or were safe. And they couldn't (Sunday), I guess because the rule says that you have to finish it the same day.
"We hit better this year after putting the time in. Things just don't happen sitting at home. They put a lot of time in on their own, and they deserve it."
Nonetheless, the awards ceremony was moved onto the alternate diamond - where about 30 hours ago the Lady Missiles beat Illini Bluffs to make it to the title game. The players came out onto the diamond from the opening next to the visiting dugout, hand holding hand onto the field and stopping along the line between second and third base.
"It means everything. We did it as a family. It's the first one in our community and in our school," Adolph said. "We brought a lot of pride in our community by doing this, and we've kind of given Milledgeville a different look by saying that we can succeed and we can do whatever we want when we really put our minds to it and we have the determination to do it."
After recieving the individual medals, the Lady Missiles hoisted the championship trophy with a dark sky behind them in the background.
But there was a shine alright.
Just beyond the left field fence, a rainbow tried to take shape. At one end of it were the Lady Missiles. Can you spot the rainbow below?
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